


To Change The World, Please Subscribe

by hulklinging



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dysphoria, Gen, Genderqueer Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, YouTube
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 13:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3980263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hulklinging/pseuds/hulklinging
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What better way to make friends than make a community for trans youtube artists?</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Change The World, Please Subscribe

Enjolras can always tell when Combeferre has an interesting idea.

When Enjolras thinks of something, he tends to shout it out immediately, get the ball rolling right away. He hates standing still. Combeferre is just the opposite. He sits on an idea, cultivates it, waits until it’s fully formed before presenting it for peer review.

Enjolras has been waiting for weeks. Honestly, he’s impressed with his own restraint. It’s during one of their skype calls, on a quiet Friday in March, that he finally loses patience.

“What are you thinking?”

Combeferre raises an eyebrow. “In general?”

Enjolras bites back a frustrated noise. “I’ve been waiting for ages, Ferre. What’s your new idea? I know you have one.”

Another part of how Combeferre thinks through ideas is that he never says them outright. Instead, he hints and prods Enjolras until he arrives at it himself. It’s more a game than anything else, and at this point Enjolras knows it is faster to play along than to argue. And the guessing does tend to be fun.

“Have you seen this?”

Enjolras clicks the youtube link, and is met with a grainy video of a kid with a guitar. This is not what he was expecting, but they do have a nice voice, gravelly in a way he thinks he recognizes, although he doesn’t want to make any assumptions. It’s a song he’s heard a bunch, on the radio and in ever fanmix for tragic romance, but it takes on a new life in this person’s mouth. He ends up watching the whole video in silence, knowing Combeferre is probably watching him just as closely. The video ends with a simple sign off.

“Hey, I’m R. Thanks for watching, I guess. I’m a busker, so if you see me around, come say hello, or whatever.”

The video ends. Enjolras chews his lip, not wanting to just ask Combeferre the significance of the video, but not understanding either. He notes that the video has nowhere near the amount of views it deserves, and frowns. He clicks through to R’s channel. It looks like it’s mostly song covers, some titles he recognizes and some he doesn’t. There is one called ‘update’ and one labeled ‘4 months.’ Oh. He skims through the description, and his frown deepens when he sees that the boy was on T, but had to stop due to ‘financial shit’. It’s not an uncommon story, and it makes him livid every time he sees it.

The ping of a new message distracts him. It’s another Youtube link.

A younger kid introduces themselves as Jehan. They have a forget-me-not tucked behind one ear, hair that just brushes their chin, and dark brown eyes that look too big on their face.

“This is called ‘The Letters In Between,’” they say, then take a deep breath. It’s spoken word, rhythmic and powerful. The words sneak under Enjolras’s skin, making him oddly aware of his own heartbeat.

“They’re fantastic,” he mutters, after the video ends. Combeferre nods, and Enjolras looks through their profile. Not nearly enough hits, again. He’s starting to think he knows where this is going.

“Are you thinking about making a…” He searches for the right word. “A community? A collective?”

Combeferre smiles at him. “What do you think?”

Enjolras looks at Jehan, then R. He tugs at a curl, turning it in his fingers as he thinks. “Open? Or invitations?”

“I was thinking invites?” He’s caught up to Combeferre now, or at least to the point where he is now waiting to hear Enjolras’s opinion before deciding on some finer details.

“A way for us to be seen. Put faces to identities...” He eyes R’s latest video, how the description hints at being even shorter on cash than usual. It’s played as a joke, because of course it is. It’s either laugh or panic, isn’t it. “And a way for us to perhaps support ourselves. And something for people to see that might help them realize things about themselves.”

“You like the idea, then?” There is a hint of smugness in his tone, but it’s a damn good idea. He’s earned it.

“Of course.”

And so Les Amis is born.

 

Enjolras and Combeferre had met on a livejournal community. Enjolras was thirteen, had only just discovered the term ‘transgender’ and had thrown himself into research. He’d blazed through wiki articles and scientific papers and stumbled upon the community, which had felt too good to be true. And of course in some ways it was. Enjolras might have been young, but he was already headstrong, opinionated. So when he saw a thread that clearly stunk of sexism (sexism had been his focus before this, he’d found out about trans identities through his readings on sexism), he had to engage. And in that thread, a brilliant person backed him up, watertight reasoning complete with sources. It was friendship at first sight. Enjolras had made an MSN for Combeferre, who was two years his senior and lived on the other side of the world. Livejournal gave way to tumblr, MSN to skype, but their friendship hadn’t waivered. Now, five years later, they have plans to to meet each other in person in the next six months, Combeferre coming to Montreal for Enjolras’ graduation and then exploring the city for two weeks before they both go back to Paris and probably other parts of France as well until Enjolras has to return for university. Anytime Enjolras remembered that he’d soon get to be in the same country, the same room as Combeferre, he found himself unable to stop grinning. He and Combeferre had been through a lot. They deserved this. When Enjolras had come out to his family, Combeferre was there, waiting for him and comforting him when his father had taken it less than well. When Combeferre told his sister, Enjolras was texting him encouragement the whole time.

And now they’re both out, well on their way to who they want to be. Combeferre is in uni studying to be a doctor, and Enjolras has just finished his last few auditions for acting programs across the country. He just needs to get in somewhere, move away, and then he’s set. It’s his life to live, then. And he couldn’t have done it, without Combeferre. Combeferre is the best friend he could have asked for, and then some. And he’s been a mentor, of sorts, to Enjolras. He’s tempered him.

He still gets into fights on the internet, of course. It’s just that now, he’s better at winning them.

Him and Combeferre understand each other well enough, have always got along well enough, that most of the time Enjolras isn’t bothered by the fact that his best friend is also his only friend. Still, the thought of having something concrete, reaching out to like-minded people, creating art and acceptance… That’s the dream. It’s what he’s always wanted.

“I’ll draft up a proposal,” he says.

There’s an anxious kind of excitement surrounding the whole thing. They don’t have a name, not yet, but they have a letter waiting to be sent out, a private channel beginning to take shape. All they need are members. But sending that letter is the scariest part.

Him and Combeferre have thrown together a pretty decent list of potential members. There’s a girl Combeferre finds who records in dark stairwells and open lots, her electric guitar only sometimes plugged in. She destroys.

“I’m a little afraid of her,” Combeferre admis. They decide they won’t email her until they contact a few of the less intimidating people.

In the end, the first round of invites go out to Jehan, R, and Cosette, who has just started to vlog as a way of keeping positive about her vocal training.

Enjolras hits send on his last message, and finds himself tugging at his hair. “Waiting sucks.”

Combeferre laughs at him, and goes back to tuning his cello. They do this more and more now. Their skype calls don’t need to be conversations, they’re more like windows into each other’s lives, a way to fake closeness. Combeferre begins to practice the song he’s working on for his next video. It’s a cover to a song Combeferre showed him a few weeks ago, although he doesn’t remember the name. He does know that with Combeferre’s cello and low tenor, it takes on a haunting beauty. Enjolras thinks about his prescription for T, just waiting for him to move out, and wastes a few minutes stressed about where his own mezzo will end up. Then he checks his inbox. Nothing. He does his homework. Watches Combeferre record his video, where he promises he’s working on something big. Checks again. Nothing, nothing.

“What song are you doing next?”

Enjolras shrugs. “Wanted to do Giants in the Sky, maybe.” It’s not his favorite show, but the timing is tricky and he wants a few more traditional theatre songs under his belt.

“Practice. Stop fretting.”

He tries, and manages to get it halfway decent before Combeferre has to go. He runs through it once more, checks the progress on his school GSA’s project of the year (gender neutral bathrooms. Finally, in the last months of the year, the administration looks ready to give in. If so, it will be the perfect graduation present). Finally, he lets himself check his inbox again.

_“Hello Enjolras!_

_I’m honoured that you approached me! I would love to be a part of your collective.”_

Cosette, who signs off with her skype, becomes the first official member. After him and Combeferre, of course. Enjolras grins, and reads the short message again, triumph and relief coursing through him. He makes a new skype chat, labels it ‘The Collective’, and adds Combeferre and Cosette. Satisfied, he signs off for the night.

Cosette is lovely. He signs back on to skype to be met with a few paragraphs of excitement from her, talking about what a good idea this was, and again how she was honoured that they asked her, of all people. Enjolras is pleased to see her politely-worded but stern note about how she hopes non-binary identities are being included. And on that note, he checks his inbox. One message, from Jehan. He reads it, adds Jehan on skype, and then starts on a reply to Cosette.

He has a moment of fear where he realizes that he and Combeferre aren’t used to having others present in their conversations. What if they alienate the other two? What if they can’t open up their circle to let anyone else in? But what really surprises Enjolras is just how easy it is. Cosette is sharp and clever, born in Vietnam but grew up in Australia, with an adopted dad who has been the most accepting a person can be.

 **Cosette:** He was ready to start me on hormones the minute I came out. I was the one who dragged my feet about it all. I wanted to be sure, to make sure it wasn’t just because I had no interest in being a typical guy, yeah? He helped me pick my name when I was ready and everything.

Jehan doesn’t talk a lot, at first. Enjolras worries that it’s maybe because Jehan is the youngest, or because Jehan isn’t in a position at home to come out, or maybe because they’re the only genderqueer member. But Jehan assures him that they’re not uncomfortable, just careful with their words. And it’s true, they act like every word they say has weight to it. When Enjolras sees that they’re typing, he holds off on his own replies, wanting to give Jehan time to pick out the words they’re looking for.

They spend the first few days getting to know each other. There’s been no reply from R, but Enjolras doesn’t let himself be bothered by it. They got very lucky with their other two initial members, after all. Two out of three is not bad. They also work on a list of others to invite, as a group going over the people Enjolras and Combeferre had found, with Jehan and Cosette both adding their own names to the list. Enjolras sends out six more invites, nerves almost completely given away to excitement, this time around.

 **Combeferre:** Once we have a few more people, we can pick a name.

A name is something that still evades them, although they have worked out a bit of a structure. Continue doing videos as they do, but also having collaboration videos, themed weeks, and if they get popular enough, Q and As that bring them all together.

 **Enjolras:** We can also use it as a way to get the word out about worthy causes?

He’s nervous bringing that up, because he knows that it’s unlikely everyone who joins will be interested in the social justice aspect that he wants to bring to the table. But if it goes well (and he doesn’t know any other way of planning other than ‘dream big’) then they’ll be a group of trans folk with a voice. Surely they have to do something positive with that opportunity.

He needn’t have worried. No sooner does he say that, than Cosette is linking him to a clothing swap project that needs help getting the word out, Combeferre is typing away at a breakdown of a possible law that needs some attention, and Jehan mentions something about getting resources into smaller rural towns. Enjolras can’t stop beaming. He finishes an email to the school board with a flourish, the finishing touches on an official neutral bathroom proposal for them to finally approve, and wonders why it had taken him this long to go looking for more friends.

Talking to Jehan and Cosette and Combeferre, his skin feels like it fits just a little bit better.

 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at [hulklinging.](http://hulklinging.tumblr.com/) thanks for reading!


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